Elena shook her head. She clearly remembered all the formal events, dinners and parties she had been forbidden to attend. “Not everything.”
“Those other occasions weren’t important—”
“Maybe not to you, but they were to me. While you and your sister and cousins were all getting dressed up for a fancy party, I was left alone. I was the only one not invited.”
“I’m sorry. You know I would have included you if I could have.” Luca frowned. “But I don’t understand. That was all a very long time ago. What does any of this have to do with our marriage?”
“I’m getting to that. After feeling like an outsider my entire childhood, I will not be left on the outside of our marriage.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That if you can’t open up and tell me how you feel about the baby, I can’t do this.”
What did she mean, she couldn’t do this? He was too afraid to ask. He didn’t even understand what had brought this on, but he refused to let his marriage fall apart at their reception. That just seemed epically wrong.
“Elena, I do open up to you, as much as I open up to anyone.”
“But that’s the thing—you don’t. You play everything close to the vest. I don’t even know if you’re going to let down your guard and love our baby.”
“Luca, is that you?” Annabelle called out. She came closer. “Oh, Elena, this is where you’ve been. Somebody we both know—” she nodded toward Luca “—got worried when he couldn’t find you.”
“Sorry,” Elena said. “I just needed a little fresh air.”
“No problem. But as soon as you two are ready, it’s time to cut the cake.”
“We’ll be right there,” Luca said. He waited until his sister walked away and then he said, “Elena, I know you want a lot from me, and I’m trying my best. Just give me a little time.”
“What makes you think that time will help?”
“This does.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.
When they kissed, everything seemed right in the world. There was no need for words. Problems got lost in the haze.
There was just him and her, lost in the moment.
Lip to lip. Heart to heart.
If only life could be so simple.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
WHAT ARE WE supposed to do now?
Elena looked at Luca, who was wearing a bewildered expression that must have matched hers. They stood just outside one of the elaborate guesthouses on the estate. They were secluded.
Just the two of them.
And now they would have to talk.
They stood there for a moment in the dark with the stars twinkling overhead. In any other scenario, this would be so romantic. But what their families didn’t know was that Luca was not in love with her.
“Shall we go inside?” he asked.
She nodded. “It’s late and I’m tired.”
In the next moment, she was swept off her feet.
“Luca, you don’t have to do this. There aren’t any photographers around this time.” And then she had second thoughts about her assumption. “Are there?”
“Why are you asking me? I didn’t plan this.”
And then Elena realized that Annabelle had planned this special evening. And that could only mean one thing—Annabelle approved of the marriage. At last Elena felt as though she’d been accepted. She was one of them—for however long it lasted.
Luca arched a brow. “And what has you smiling?”
Elena realized that she was indeed smiling. She shrugged and then went with the moment. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her into their temporary home. They had been explicitly told that they were to stay put until Monday—or longer if they liked.
“What’s up with you?” she asked.
“Me? Why does something have to be up?”
“Because you’ve been acting surprisingly happy tonight.”
“And the problem with that is?”
“The last time I saw you, we’d argued and you’d walked away mad.”
“Maybe I had time to cool off and regret walking away.”
What was he saying? She wasn’t quite sure. But as he carried her into the cozy cottage, she noticed the soft, jazzy tunes filling the air. Her gaze scanned the dimly lit room. Candles were scattered about, from the mantel of the fireplace to the coffee table. The French doors stood wide open with the gentle breeze off the sea rushing into the room.
Elena wasn’t sure she wanted to ruin this moment with any serious conversation. Perhaps the reality of their situation could wait until tomorrow. After all the effort that had gone into this setup, it’d be a shame not to enjoy it.
She leaned close to his neck, brushing her lips gently across his skin. Mmm...he smelled like soap combined with his own manly scent. She breathed in deeper.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Smelling you.”
“What?”
She couldn’t help but smile at his startled tone. “You smell good.” She leaned in close again. “Really good.”
He lowered her feet to the ground. “It’s probably best if you don’t do that again.”
But her arms were still looped around his neck, and she didn’t feel like letting go. Maybe it was all the romantic songs that had filled the ballroom. Or maybe it was dancing with him most of the evening and staring into his eyes. Whatever it was, she was going with it.
“Loosen up. This is our wedding night do-over.”
“We can’t have a do-over.” He loosened her arms from his neck and walked over to the open French doors.
“Sure we can—”
“A do-over implies that we had a first wedding night. And I distinctly recall spending that night alone. Remember?” He turned away from her and stared out at the star-studded sky. “It was one of your stipulations to our marriage.”
“And a woman reserves the right to change her mind.”
She walked up behind him. With his back to her, she leaned her cheek against his shoulder while slipping her arms around him. Her hand rested over his chest, where she felt the beat of his heart. It was strong and fast.
He cleared his throat, but when he spoke his voice was a bit raspy. “You were very serious that day.”
“I’m sorry about that. It was a very emotional day and it crashed in on me.”
“I think it’s best we stick with the original agreement.”
What was that supposed to mean? Her mind jumped to all the wrong conclusions. But then she stopped herself. In the past, jumping to conclusions had done nothing but get her in trouble.
With great trepidation, she asked, “Why is it for the best?”
“You know why.”
She pulled back. “No, I don’t. But I’d like you to explain it to me.”
He shook his head. “Let’s not get into this now. It was a nice evening. Let’s leave it at that. I’ll sleep on the couch. You can have the bed.”
“No.”
He turned to her. “No, what?”
“No, I’m not going to leave it at that. I want to know what you meant.”
“Why do you always have to be so stubborn?”
“I guess I was born that way.” She pressed her hands to her hips. “Now quit trying to change the subject.”
He raked his fingers through his hair and sighed in defeat. “Because the one night we spent together, I awoke in the morning to find you crying. You regretted our night together. And I don’t want a repeat of that experience.”
He’d heard her? He’d never said a word about it. If he had, would it have changed things between them? She wasn’t sure, but she wanted to clear the air now.
“I wasn’t crying be
cause I regretted that you and I had gotten closer. It was quite the opposite. I enjoyed it and that scared me.”
“Scared you?”
“Yes. I knew you didn’t want a serious relationship. And without us being able to move forward, I knew I would lose you—lose our friendship. I thought I’d once again made a huge mistake. What you saw was me being afraid of losing you.”
His eyes searched hers. “Really? That’s what you were upset about?”
She nodded. “After all, we’ve been through thick and thin. I couldn’t imagine never speaking to you again.”
“You never have to worry about that. I don’t know how this whole thing with us is going to work out, but I will always be here for you. That I promise.”
“I will be here for you, too. Always and forever.”
His head lowered, and he claimed her lips. It seemed so natural, so right. Maybe that was because they were, in fact, newlyweds. Or more likely it was because they’d been made for each other, but one of them had just been too stubborn to see it until now.
But suddenly Luca pulled back. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
“We just talked about this. Everything is okay now.” She lifted up on her tiptoes to continue the kiss, but Luca leaned back.
“There are still things we need to talk about.”
“It can wait. I promise, it’ll be all right.” She ran her hands up over the front of his shirt to his shoulders, where she slipped off his tux coat. It fell to the floor in a heap. “Tonight isn’t for talking.”
“It isn’t?” His voice was deeper than normal.
“No.” She pulled on his bow tie, loosening it. And then she undid the top button of his shirt. “I can think of other, more pressing matters.”
“I think I’m getting the idea, but could you be a little clearer about what’s on your mind?”
Her fingers undid another button. And then she lifted up on her tiptoes and pressed a trail of kisses along his neck. “Are you getting the idea?”
“Uh-huh.” He moved just then and claimed her lips with his own.
This time his kiss wasn’t tentative, but rather full of raw desire. As their kiss deepened, hope welled up inside Elena that this was the turning point in their relationship. That, at last, Luca was letting down the walls around his heart and allowing her in. There were still a lot of details to be sorted out, but as long as she knew Luca wanted this marriage for the right reasons, she would meet him halfway.
In the background, the Frank Sinatra love song that had played on their wedding day started up. She would never hear that song again without thinking of this moment. She leaned into Luca like she’d been wanting to do all week. She gave in to the passion that welled up within her, slipping her hands up over his shoulders and wrapping them around the back of his neck. Her fingers combed through his hair.
A kiss had never tasted so good. He tasted of sweet wine and chocolate. His touch was gentle yet needy. Joy filled her knowing that at last they were on the right page.
He pulled back ever so slightly and rested his forehead against hers. “Mrs. DiSalvo, shall we have our wedding night?”
Her heart fluttered. “Oh, yes.”
And she sealed it with a kiss. Words were overrated in this moment. They could communicate lip to lip, hand to hand and body to body.
In the next moment, he swept her up in his arms. With the warm sea breeze caressing them, he carried her over to the four-poster bed draped with a sheer white canopy.
He lowered her onto the fluffy white comforter and stared into her eyes. “It’s as if I’m seeing you for the first time.”
She smiled up at him. “I hope you like what you see.”
“Oh, definitely.” But then a worrisome look came over his face.
“What is it?”
“I just don’t want to do anything to hurt you.”
“You won’t.” She was trusting him with her heart. “Not unless you don’t come closer and kiss me some more.”
“That I can do.”
He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THAT HAD BEEN a mistake.
A big one.
Luca slipped out of bed, dressed and went out to stand on the deck overlooking the sea. He shouldn’t have let things go so far last night. Sure, he’d wanted Elena more than he’d ever wanted any woman he’d ever known. And yes, they were married, so it was expected.
But what he hadn’t done was be totally up front with Elena.
Ever since they’d said their wedding vows, he’d been seeing her in a different light. He’d always thought she was pretty, but now when he looked at her, she took his breath away. And with the pregnancy, she wasn’t as thin as she was for the catwalks. He liked those emerging curves a lot—a whole lot.
But he had to tell her that his situation had changed—and not for the better. He was not the man she thought she’d married—
“Hey, what are you doing up so early?” Elena’s sleepy voice came from behind him.
He turned around to find her wearing his white dress shirt from last night. The shirt stopped halfway down her thighs. Her long blond hair was tousled. And she’d never looked sweeter.
She reached him and wrapped her arms around his neck before lifting up and pressing a kiss to his lips. Memories of their steamy night together sprang to mind. His body was immediately ready for a repeat.
No. He steeled himself. He was not about to cave again. He had to settle things between them.
Elena pulled away. “Can I get you some coffee?”
“I didn’t think you were allowed that now that you’re pregnant.”
“I’m not. But that doesn’t mean I can’t get you some. I’ll just have some juice or whatever I find in the fridge.”
“Oh. Okay. That sounds good.” Maybe some caffeine would help straighten his thoughts.
“You know, I’ve been doing some thinking about our situation,” Elena called out from the kitchen. “I’ll tell you in a few minutes.”
There was a knock at the door.
“I wonder who that can be,” Elena said. “I’ll get it.”
Luca leaned his arms on the railing surrounding the balcony. He stared off in the distance. He couldn’t believe that he finally knew what he wanted, but it was just out of his reach.
It was like having an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. One prompted him to use his relationship with Elena to gain an audience with the king. It was the only viable way he could get a quick resolution to the lemon grove’s troubles.
But the other prompted him to put Elena first. It was a tremendous favor to ask her to get an audience with the king while he was sequestered. The only way to do it would be for her to sneak him in. And that would leave her in a very awkward position with her father.
“These arrived for you.” She handed over a newspaper and a big manila envelope.
“Thank you.” He glanced at the return address on the envelope. He knew the significance of both items and set them aside.
“Aren’t you even going to look at the package? It might be important.”
“The envelope contains our wedding photos. I thought you might want them, so I had the photographer rush over the proofs.”
“Oh. Okay. And is there any significance to the newspaper?”
He nodded. “We’re in it.”
“What?” She rushed over, grabbed it and found their photo on the front page. “But how did they get this? The picture is from our wedding at the church.”
“I leaked it to the press.”
“But why?”
“Because I was tired of their lies. I wanted them to have the truth. Now the world knows we’re married.”
Her gaze searched his. “You
don’t care if everyone knows that you married a...” Using air quotes, she said, “‘Home wrecker’?”
“You are anything but. In fact, I should make that Steven guy come clean to the world—”
“No! Don’t.” When he sent her a puzzled look, she added, “It’ll just dredge up that mess all over again.”
He sighed. “I guess you do have a point. I just hate the thought of him getting away with lying to you.”
“He’s not. Not exactly. His soon-to-be ex-wife is making sure he’s miserable.”
“Nothing like a scorned woman.”
Elena smiled. “Exactly. I’m sure she can make him squirm in ways you can’t even imagine.”
“Hmm...I’ll have to make sure I don’t get on your bad side.”
“True.” She smiled broadly. “But you don’t have anything to worry about after last night. Right now, I feel like anything is possible—”
“Elena, don’t go getting too excited.”
“Don’t worry. I know that we still have steep hurdles to cross. But if you give a little and I give a little, maybe we can meet somewhere in the middle. And our child will win by having both parents in their life.”
Guilt assailed Luca. He’d been so caught up in the surprise reception last night and then being alone with Elena that he hadn’t been thinking clearly. She’d been so different—so bold. And he was weak when it came to her kisses.
He took a big gulp of coffee. He swallowed, and his stomach churned. Maybe coffee on top of guilt was not a good combination for this morning. He set aside the coffee.
“Elena, come here.” He guided her over to the wicker chairs. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
She looked at him. “I know.”
“You do?”
“Yes. Your sister told me last night that you are going to be working with your father in Halencia. So you’ll want to spend most of your time there. And that’s why I’ve been thinking—”
“Wait.” He waved his hands to gain her attention. “Is that all my sister told you?”
Elena’s forehead creased. “What else should she have told me?”
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